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An article about smart devices on the Science Daily website and in recent newspaper articles discusses the possibility of hackers gaining access to your computer system through smart devices including washing machines and light bulbs, a matter I was in the dark about. The basic issue is that anything connected to your computer or operated by Wi-Fi such as the light bulbs needs to have strong passwords in order to protect your privacy.

To me it seems not that great a worry, not just because I don't have these devices but more so because I don't think I am that interesting. A look inside my fridge would show some health food, some not so health food and some chocolate but no fascinating creative cooking that will inspire thousands of home chefs. If you want to leave me in the dark by turning off my light bulb, I'll just go to bed and sulk. If you think you can spy on me via a Wi-Fi washing machine all you are going to see are some dirty cloths and a few 'unmentionables'.

Sometimes science goes too far in developing useless applications for useful technologies and maybe for a while the pressing area of concern is finding a vaccine for the coronavirus. In the meantime, I am going to see if I need to change my lightbulb or just its password before it gets too dark to see. [ Editor’s Note: While not necessarily the wisest choice, I think many people are perfectly willing to trade a little of their privacy for the sake of convenience ( after all, why else would “ remember my password” be an option?).

When you think about how we carry our phones everywhere we go, we’re basically carrying a “ bug” around with us. We’ve gone from thinking that the government is spying on us to practically just giving whoever wants it our information]